Wire mattress



( Model.)

s. B. G-LEASON.

WIRE MATTRESS.

Patented Mar.20,1883.

u. r-zrzns. mwmiw n hen Was UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' SANFORD B. GLEASON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

WIRE MATTR ESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of. Letters Patent No. 274,312, dated "March 20, 1853.

Application filed February 8, 1883. (No model.) v

To all'tchom it may concern Be it-known that I, SANFORD B. GLEASON,

of the city .and county of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Wire Mattresses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to what is commonly known as a wovewwiremattress -that is to say, a mattress consisting of a bed-bottom composed of interlocked springs or woven wire combined with end and side supporting'rails. Itis my object to obtain what may be termed a knockdown mattress of this sort.

In order to explain my improvement, it will be necessary to set forth the manner'in which woven-wire mattresses have previously been made and put together.

So far as I am aware, the stretching and putting under tension of the wire bed-bottom have heretofore been done at the factory where the mattress is made. The ends of the wire bed-bottom are first attached to the end rails.

One of thelatter is attached to the side rails in its proper place, and then these parts are put other end rail, thus completing the mattress and holding the stretched bed-bottom in place. With the side rails and one of the end rails are usually combined adjusting devices, which are employed to keep the bed-bottom, when it is in use, under proper tension; butthese devices are arranged and adapted merely to keep the bed-bottom to the required pitch of tension, and are not adapted, and in fact cannot be operated, to release and take 011 the tension below a certain narrow limit, if any. The consequence is that it isimpracti'cable to take the mattress to pieces. The bedbottom, even when slackened to the utmost limit of the ad 4 5 justing device, (whose range of movement is quite a distance and making the operation one of considerable danger, while after they areonce separated they cannot be put together again without making use of special stretching appliances, such as were used at the factoryfin the first instance. Thus the mattress, both in transportation in thefurniture dealers establishment and in the house where it is to be used, must be handled as a whole. In this shape it is bulky, inconvenient, and expensive.

as freight, and is also very liable to be injured; and it is also inconvenientand difficult to handle under any circumstances. It is therefore obviously an advantage to so construct'and arrange the parts that they may be detached and packed in small compass and need not again beassembled and put toget er until they are brought to the bedstead with which the mattress is to be used.

The object of my invention is to obtain this result. To this end I combine with the end and side rails and elastic extensible wire bedhottom stretching devices whose range of movement is equal to the difference in length of the bed-bottom when entirely off tension and when stretched to the proper degree plus whatever further may be required in order to take up the slight slack which occurs after the mattress has been in use. A wire mattress,- when stretched for the first time in the factory, usually elongates about ten inches. When movable end rail to be operated on can be introduced into or engaged with them, with the bed-bottom attached to said end rail off tension. I

The nature of my improvement and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawingmin which-=v tress embodying my invention.

2 enew Figure 1 is a perspective view of a wire mat- Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a detached view of one of the stretchingirons, which I prefer, on the whole, to employ, although it is manifest that the constructions may be varied without departure from my invention.

A A are the side rails. rails, and D is the woven-wire bed-bottom. The bed-bottom is attached to the end rails in the usual way, and one of the end rails, B, is attached in stationary position to the side rails by bolts a passing down through the end rail and the side rails, and having screwed onto their projecting lower ends nuts b. The rail B is thus held firmly and tightly in position by a connection which permits-it to be readily applied to and removed from the end rails. The other rail, 0, is the movable rail. Its ends rest upon the side rails and upon thetops of bracketlike stretching-irons E, fastened securely one to the inner face of each side rail, with their upper faces about flush with the top of the side rails. In the upper face of each stretchingiron is a longitudinal slot, 0, which should be of sufficient length to permit the range of movement hereinbefore indicated. On the front end of each iron is a laterally-projecting boss, 01, forming a bearing for the pressure-screw, e, which screws through it, and is arranged so that when screwed forward it will bear against and push back the end of the end rail 0 opposite to it. On the under side of this boss is a dowel, f, which enters a hole bored for it in the top of the side rail for the purpose of imparting greater strength to the parts at this point. The end rail G is held to the irons by headed bolts 9, which pass down through it and the slots 0, and have screwed upon their lowercnds nuts h. The parts are so proportioned and the stretching-irons are so situated that after the end rail B is attached and in B O are the end place end rail 0 can be secured in place on the stretching-irons in front of the points of the retracted screws e, while the bed-bottom is entirely off tension. Then by advancing the screws the end rail 0 will be pushed back and the bed-bottom put under any required degree of tension. After retracting the'screws, so as to gradually take the tension entirely from the bed-bottom, the mattress can be taken apart without difficulty by removing the nuts I) and h. It will thus be seen that the bed-bottom and end rails to which it is secured can be folded together and packed separately from the side rails, thus not only economizing space in transportation and in the warehouse, but rendering it very much more easy to handle the mattress; nor need the mattress be put together until it is brought to the bedstead for which it is designed, thus making it much more convenient to carry into a private house.

What I claim as new and of my invention A knockdown wire mattress consisting of an elastic and extensible wire bed-bottom, side rails, and stationary and movable end rails detachably connected therewith, in combination with stretching devices carried by the side rails, and positioned and having a range of movement substantially as described, sothat the movable end rail operated on by them can be engaged with them without putting the bedbottom under tension, and can then be moved by them from this position to one in which the bed-bottom will be brought and maintained at full tension, as and for the purposes hereinhefore set forth.

in testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 8th day of February, 1883.

SANFORD B'. GLEASON.

Witnesses:

EWELL A. DICK, J. WALTER BLANDFORD. 

